Real #MomLife Behind Instagram

Real Talk

The #MomGuilt never really goes away… I just get better at hiding it. While I do work at home most days, accomplishing tasks or just checking off to-dos is an uphill battle with two kids clinging on to me and finding me at every nook and cranny whenever I need to be isolated to finish something important. Two months ago, Tristan’s first ever yaya left and our long-time help went on an extended vacation. So our rooms were a huge mess that I just closed my eyes every time I entered so I could imagine the mess doesn’t exist. Haha! One of the things I can not stand though is an unclean bathroom. Nope. Just no.

My mom has ingrained in me ever since I was a little girl that the bathroom is something close to a ‘holy‘ place and can not ever be left uncleaned. That’s why even when we go to hotels abroad, I can take a dirty room but not a dirty bathroom. It’s the first thing I check when looking for accommodations. Our momma bear has trained us to learn how to clean our own bathrooms and we’ve been scrubbing floors, walls and yes, toilets even when we were kids. Come to think of it, I should probably enter Selene in the same training camp my mother put us through – Bathroom Cleaning 101.

*In collaboration with Mr Muscle. All experiences and thoughts are mine.

These two are always, always asking me to play with them but most times, it’s either I’m working or helping out in cleaning the house. Cue in the debilitating #MomGuilt.

Behind the IG Life

Yes, folks. Showing you some realness this afternoon. I do clean toilets. There are times when it’s our yaya who does the cleaning, of course, when I’m at home and staying with the kids the whole day. But there are also times, when I’m heading out and the yaya will be taking care of Tristan the rest of the day, I prefer to do it instead so she wouldn’t have to handle the toilet and then my kids after. I bet 100% that you have not seen photos like this on your social media feeds ever because what’s so Instagrammable about bathroom cleaning?! LOL. But Instagram life doesn’t let us see what happens 80% of life’s behind-the-scenes and this is my way of staying “real” despite the social media glam out there.

Let me be clear, toilet cleaning is not something I like doing (anyone who does tell me right now on the comments LOL) but it’s something ingrained in me since I was a child that I can hear my mom’s voice in my head every time I splash water out of the sink when washing my face. So now, wherever I go, I always make sure to keep the bathroom clean. Thanks for the twenty years of reminder, mom. It rubbed off! Hahaha.

Doing house chores is something I don’t mind doing but I realized that it takes me further away from spending time with my kids. There are times I withhold cleaning (like when I just close my eyes and pray to the heavens the toys fly back to their boxes as I mentioned above) just so I could spend time with the kiddos. When it comes to toilet cleaning, Mr Muscle® has been the product I saw my mom trust for the longest. I remember the first time I picked it up myself in the supermarket – I felt so amused as I thought, “This is it, #adulting life!” while buying toilet cleaner on my own.

The new Mr Muscle® is made even better as it is called the Foaming Bleach Gel. Compared to basic and regular ol’ bleach. Mr Muscle® foams and freshens so it keeps the toilet cleaner for longer. You have to admire the smart combination of the power of bleach and the cleaning action of the foam bubbles. If you can see our toilet, it’s super white and clean just as it was when it was brand spankin’ new. No Photoshop magic there, folks! It cleans powerfully so I get to have more time to do the things I want and less time for chores and cleaning.

I mean, come on, who wants to clean toilets on a regular basis, right? If there were something we should do less of to spend more time with our family, it’s cleaning that I would give up on. I personally felt this dilemma when I was a kid and I saw my mom’s obsessive cleaning streak – preferring to clean the whole house inside out that she had no more energy for anything else. I told myself that when I had kids of my own, I won’t be so adamant on cleaning the house every single day and then be left with having no energy to play with my kids because I used them all up on cleaning. With Mr Muscle®, I can clean the toilet quickly as it is super powerful and I don’t need to spend more time than I should.

Clean Less, Live More

My kids are growing up so fast and the more time I spend cleaning, working, focusing on all the other life matters – the quicker they grow right in front of my eyes. BRB, holding myself back from crying. If there is any currency that I value more than anything right now, it’s time. It’s something I can not take back or exchange or reconsider. So I’m very careful now on choosing how to spend it. I have to work so I make sure that every moment I’m not, I spend with my kids – playing together, chasing each other, listening to their stories. I know this is the curse of #MomLife – whether we stay at home with them or work outside the home, we will never have enough time with our kids.

Wow! Thanks for this! The bathroom has always been the number one problem in our household. I used to delegate this to my husband but deep cleaning the bathroom has been my little escape every weekend, even if my toddler is constantly banging the door. Anyway, I use three products when cleaning: thin bleach, thick bleach, and baking soda. I will look for this at when I go grocery shopping next time! Thanks for the reco!

Me too the bathroom talaga..We dont own a spacious house and naging sahm for many years, i have 3 kids na rin and i want a clean home kahit na messy. Messy i mean is natural na makalat sila pero i want clean ang surroundings esp sa germs bacteria..i used Ms Muscle too before i just thought of buying lamg and i admit kampante ako na gamit sya malinis talaga. But di ko na ulit nagamit kasi may new brand na inalok si inlaws and a bit cheaper and easy to biy nasa wet market..now im thinking of going back to Mr Muscle because of your blog po..thnks for sharing😘